“Confirm, [Y/N]?”

“YES! Yes, confirm, God damned blasted broken machine,” the captain yelled at his armor.

“Confirmed. Enemies identified, scanning feed updated,” the machine mind replied.

“Finally.” It had taken a good damned minute to get the suit to properly identify these machines as hostile entities. Assuming it was at last doing its job, Captain Kolbe now had a feed of all such machines within scanning range. As he expected, the little bugs that had swarmed in were only half their total number, the rest were waiting past the door and on the other side of that hole in the ceiling.

His armored hand lost grip, and one of the great machine’s scoops pulled itself loose. The crane reared and lunged towards Ensign Fierro. As the Captain could see on the screen showing him the feed from the camera on the back of his armor, she was still hunched over Lieutenant Reis, who had foolishly tried to jump in front of her instead of pulling them both to safety.

“An idiot,” the captain thought as he grabbed the scoop barely in time to stop its momentum, “fuzzing over an idiot.”

The scanner was telling him no more machines as large as this one were in the area. Good, that meant he could spend some of his juice. “Machine, prepare to surge power to all arm joints.”

“Surging power to arm joints is not advised, and any damaged sustained from a surge may invalidate your warranty. Are you sure you want to proceed? [Y/N]”

“YES!” He yelled, and grumbled, “make that three idiots I’m surrounded by.”

The captain looked at another of the camera feeds projected on his visor. The witch was holding her own with nothing but a chair. He’d be impressed, if he didn’t know her trick. You don’t need speed to dodge attacks you can see coming seconds ahead. She wasn’t doing any damage though, that would be a problem. He didn’t recognize these machines, whatever they were, but he’d been scavenging long enough to know that often the many little ones were more dangerous than the single big one.

“Ensign! Drop the staff and pick up the lieutenants gun. That’s an order!” The captain yelled. As his gaze lingered on the witch’s screen, the captain thought of what an amazing sniper she’d make, if she could actually use any machine more advanced than a shovel. But like most of her kin, ancient technology did not recognize her as human enough to allow her to wield it. Between the two, her sister was the truly special one, you’d find a thousand witches before you’d find a single beastkin able to use tech. A shame that the most useful ability went to the least useful sister. If there’s a god somewhere bestowing these gifts, as chaplains like to drone on about, they certainly have a sense of irony.

“Surge initialized. Please be advised that this procedure may inva-“

“YES!” The captain yelled once more, and his screens lid up as his energy reserves began to plummet. He let go of the scoops, for just a second, to switch his grips, then he started pulling both of them across his chest as he planted his feet firmly on the cart. The machine struggled like a dying animal, though any true animal would have already been ripped in half by just a tenth of the force the captain’s armor was exerting.

The cranes struggled, but could not pull free, and began to emit the screeching sound of bending metal. As if being called by it, the smaller machines that had been waiting outside came pouring in, heading straight towards the captain.

The first one to come close and start a lunge towards him was welcomed with a rifle blast in the belly. Seems the ensign had gathered enough wits to be of use again.

“Keep firing Ensign” the captain said, and continued pulling. The metal screeched louder, then gave way. With a loud crack he tore both cranes’ arms clean off. The parts still attached to the cart waved about helplessly as the captain threw both arms to the back of the room.

Then he turned his attention to those other pesky little buggers. When he could give them his undivided attention, they weren’t that bad. He snatched the first one out of mid-air and crushed it in his hand. Before long, all that was left of the attacking force was heaps of twitching scrap metal.

(Source: https://pixabay.com/en/tunnel-subway-vienna-underground-400917/ )

END OF PART VI

So, to anyone who came back for more after part IV, thank you very much. For anyone new, you can start reading from the beginning, part I, here. The wait for the next part will likely be a month again, but I made sure to get this part out now so it wouldn't be worse than that.

For the interactive part, once more:

From which character's point-of-view should the next part be written?

1. Captain Pyrrhos Kolbe (same as this part)

2. The Witch, Achinoam Fierro

3. Ensign Draha Hedda Fierro

4. Lieutenant Alwin Reis

5. The Mobile Field Hospital, 3619113420072:SEI-PXSCPW5G8

Please vote by stating your preference in a comment. And once again, thanks for reading!